Both the value and volume of real estate sales in Massachusetts continued to plummet in March, according to numbers released yesterday by two industry groups.

The median price of a single family home in the state fell to $304,000 last month, as compared to $340,000 in March 2007, according to numbers from The Warren Group, a Boston-based real estate research and publishing company.

This 10.6 percent drop marks the sharpest decline in value since the early 1990s housing crisis hit bottom in December 1990, the report said.

That market downturn, however, was caused by problems in the banking system, the report noted, while the current problems are driven by the mounting number of foreclosures, which show no sign of abating.

"It might be a while before we pull out of the current housing slump," concluded Timothy Warren, CEO of The Warren Group.

Barnstable County experienced a slightly steeper drop in prices over the same period. The median sales value of a single family home on the Cape last month was $345,000, down nearly 12 percent from the March 2007 price of $369,000.

Statewide sales volume dropped 31.6 percent in March, as compared to the same month last year.

On Cape Cod, the number of sales fell less precipitously. Last month, 253 single family home sales were completed, down 19.4 percent from the March 2007 total of 314 sales.

A report issued yesterday by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors also showed a continuing downturn in the market over the same period.

The Realtors' association numbers, which include only homes sold through the multiple listing service, showed the median single-family home price in the state dropping by 8.4 percent to $315,000.

The number of single-family home sales in the state fell from 3,456 in March 2007 to 2,339 last month, a decline of 32.3 percent, according the Realtors' report.